So I was asked by a friend to recommend a good introduction to Buddhism for him. He’d led a rough life and said he was happy with the Way he’d discovered for himself, but people (not me by the way) were telling him that it was a very “Buddhist” way so he thought he’d investigate. This brought up the question for me “Why become a Buddhist?”. It also reminded me on the other side of how we were taught in Catholic seminary to answer the question, “Why do I need to be Christian, isn’t it enough to be good?”. I say ‘on the other side’ because the answers are exactly opposite.

Belief in strict determinism or in chaotic indeterminism, whether it be in ontology or in human behavior, was considered by the Buddha and [Willam] James to be inimical to the conception of human freedom (88). -David J. Kalupahana in The Principles of Buddhist Psychology

Belief in strict determinism or in chaotic indeterminism, whether it be in ontology or in human behavior, was considered by the Buddha and [Willam] James to be inimical to the conception of human freedom (88). -David J. Kalupahana in The Principles of Buddhist Psychology

Ritual, called “intentional practices” in Pragmatic Buddhism, is centered on intention of mind. “Intent” employed during Pragmatic Buddhist ritual cultivates mindfulness and empowers the participants through their experienced loss of self during the ritual acts. The ego-self (the “me”) is disseminated into the ritual experience, so that a holistic, undivided experience characterizes the ritual act. What we mean here is that by ”getting out of our own way” during the ritual acts, we open ourselves up to the harmonizing effects the rituals have on us.

In conversation a few weeks ago, the comment was made to me, "I don't understand the whole Pragmatic Buddhism thing." What followed was a well-intended discussion about the necessity of a synthesis of Eastern and Western thought, and what you would lose by doing so. "They're just too messy," I was told. And I get that...to a point.